Heartbroken I won't get to watch Big Worthless wave at breaking balls from April until July again, though he'd be great here since the Pirates collapse in August and September and then he could pad his numbers.

I'll actually kinda miss Poser. He was effective save for the occasional implosion, and the Poser/J-Truth combo from 2011 took years off the back end of my life I probably didn't want to be around for anyway.

Cleveland designated Jeanmar Gomez for assignment last week and now Keith Law of ESPN.com reports that the Indians have traded the right-hander to the Pirates for minor leaguer Quincy Latimore.

Gomez has a 5.18 ERA in 207 career innings spent mostly as a starter, including poor control and one of MLB’s worst strikeout rates during that time at 4.9 per nine innings. He does induce a good number of ground balls and is still just 25 years old with a minimum salary, so Gomez could settle in as a decent back-of-the-rotation starter in Pittsburgh.

I think the troublesome thing about the pirates is that they basically need Cole and Taillon to quickly establish themselves and legit top of the rotation starters by 2014. There's just no wiggle room and that's too much pressure to put on them right away.

Troy Loney wrote:I think the troublesome thing about the pirates is that they basically need Cole and Taillon to quickly establish themselves and legit top of the rotation starters by 2014. There's just no wiggle room and that's too much pressure to put on them right away.

and if those two dont pan out, well, we are looking at 2019 or so for the team to turn the corner.

The most recent BA podcast on the website talks about the NL Central prospect lists. They basically said the Pirates have a top 5 that matches any team in baseball, put a huge dropoff before Josh Bell because his knee issue is a major red flag. To be having that kind of knee problem at 18/19 does not bode well for his future. There is also another huge dropoff after him in the organization because of the disaster that was the 2009/2010 (aside from taillon) NH drafts.

The takeaway, it really doesn't look like the Pirates have the pitching depth for any sort of sustainable run as the team currently stands.

I am humbled and thrilled that you, the fans, have voted me as the cover athlete for MLB 13: The Show. It really is a dream come true for me to be on the cover of a video game, but even more, I wanted this for Pittsburgh, a city that has supported us through some rough times. You deserved this.

Seeing how the fans came out in full force for this all week long overwhelmed me. You voted non-stop at all hours of the day, and I cannot thank enough for that kind of support. Many of you lost Twitter followers, deprived yourselves of sleep and spent every free moment of your day voting on Twitter and Facebook. #MLB13Cutch became more than a hashtag - it became a movement. I owe that to all of you.

This vote showed me the sense of pride that the people of Pittsburgh have, along with all the other fans that supported me.

I cannot express enough how appreciative I am of your support, and how thankful I am that you chose me for this.

I can only promise all of you that I am going to continue to work my hardest to prove that you made the right choice and help bring the World Series trophy back to Pittsburgh.